1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a swash plate compressor, and more particularly to a swash plate compressor having a construction which is capable of reducing abrasion of a retainer for retaining shoes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional variable capacity swash plate compressor includes a thrust flange rigidly fitted on a drive shaft, for rotation in unison with the drive shaft, a swash plate mounted on the drive shaft in a tiltable manner with respect to an imaginary plane perpendicular to the drive shaft, for rotation in unison with the thrust flange as the thrust flange rotates, a plurality of shoes performing relative rotation on a sliding surface of the swash plate with respect to the circumference of the swash plate, respectively, as the drive shaft rotates, a retainer mounted on the swash plate in a relatively rotatable manner with respect to the swash plate, for retaining the shoes, and a retainer support member rigidly fitted on the swash plate, for slidably supporting the retainer.
Torque of an engine, not shown, installed on an automotive vehicle, not shown, is transmitted to the drive shaft to rotate the same. Torque of the drive shaft is transmitted from the thrust flange to the swash plate via a linkage to cause rotation of the swash plate about the drive shaft.
As the swash plate rotates, the shoes perform relative rotation on the sliding surface of the swash plate with respect to the circumference of the swash plate, whereby torque transmitted from the swash plate is converted into reciprocating motion of each piston.
As a piston reciprocates within the cylinder bore, the volume of a compression chamber within the cylinder bore changes, whereby suction, compression and delivery of refrigerant gas are sequentially carried out in the compression chamber.
In this process, when the piston moves from a top dead center position of the swash plate to a bottom dead center position of the same as the swash plate rotates, the piston is pulled by the retainer, and the retainer is pressed against the retainer support member.
In the meantime, the retainer support member rotates in unison with the swash plate, whereas the retainer does not rotate in unison with the swash plate, but performs relative rotation or sliding with respect to the retainer support member.
Therefore, if the retainer support member is formed of a ferrous material, while the retainer is formed of an aluminum-based material, a sliding surface of the retainer easily wears, so that a gap is produced between the retainer and the retainer support member. As a result, noise is produced from the two component parts of the compressor whenever the piston reciprocates within the cylinder bore.